This invention relates to a quantum operational device and, more particularly, to a quantum operational device using quantum boxes (also called quantum dots).
In recent high-integrated semiconductor memories, electrons on the order of 10.sup.4 stored in a capacitor in a memory cell represent one bit. When an operation between bits in such semiconductor memories is executed, electrons on the order of 10.sup.4 stored in a capacitor in a certain memory cell must be transferred to a capacitor of another memory cell.
Such transfer of electrons on the order of 10.sup.4 from a capacitor in a certain memory cell to a capacitor of another memory cell, however, requires an energy as much as several eV per one electron, so that a total energy of at least 10.sup.4 eV in total is consumed to execute an operation of one bit. That is, existing semiconductor memories inevitably cause high power consumption.
In particular for pattern processing, for example, operations are executed among a great number of bits, so that the power consumption is very high. Additionally, existing inter-pattern operations need access, one after another, to individual memory cells on a semiconductor memory, and hence requires a complicated circuit in which a great number of transistors are connected by wiring, which necessarily causes a slow processing speed. Further, such a complicated circuit inevitably greatly complicates its manufacturing process.